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Monday, February 20, 2012

Pakistan: Senate passes 20th Amend, PM says democracy firm


There were hiccups in the process, as PML-Q opposed the suggestion to send matter of interim setup to the chief election commissioner. The JI also gave a dissenting vote. Seventy-four votes were in favour and only two against the 20th Amend. Senatar Professor Khursheed and Senator Ibrahim voted against the Amend.  The government reportedly agreed to bringing the 21st Amendment if need be.  Q-League was of the view that if parliamentary committee could not settle the matter of interim setup, the matter should be sent to the parliament again instead of sending to the chief election commissioner. ANP also supported the PML-Q recommendations in this regard. Addressing after passage of the 20th Amend, PM Gilani said it is historic moment that for a third time constitutional amendments have been passed by the parliament under this government.  Different parties expressed their concern for not giving representation to the Senate in the proposed interim setup. The members of the house also suggested that Senate members should also be included in the parliamentary committee constituted for the interim setup. The Senate members said that the committee should be constituted by the chairman Senate and the speaker National Assembly jointly. The three rounds of votings were completed in the Senate, passing the 20th Amend for the final presidential nod.   The PM also said the 1973 Constitution guarantees welfare of the people and solidarity of Pakistan. He said the government wants to strengthen provincial autonomy. He said there is no looking back now as far democracy is concerned. He said gone are the days when a dictator would appear on national TV and announce toppling of elected government. The PM also said the 20th Amend has made the electoral system credible. Without naming the PTI, the PM said that those who talk of boycotting elections should stop such rhetoric now.

Somalia leaders sign deal for new govt


The new set-up will replace the fragile transitional body that has failed to bring peace to the war-torn country. Constant infighting, rampant corruption and bloody attacks by Islamist Shebab insurgents have undermined Somalia s unelected Transitional Federal Government (TFG), whose Western-backed mandate ends in August. Somalia s president, the presidents of the breakaway Puntland and Galmudug regions, and the commander of the powerful anti-Shebab militia Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa signed the deal under UN auspices. The accord proposes a parliamentary system for anarchic Somalia, with both Puntland and Galmudug recognised as states within a federal system. A new 225-member lower house -- including at least 30 percent women -- will be nominated by "traditional elders assisted by prominent civil society members," the agreement reads, released late Saturday after a three-day meeting. The agreement is the latest among more than a dozen attempts to resolve Somalia s more than two decade-old civil war, with the country split between rival factions and pirate gangs who hijack ships far across the Indian Ocean. Al-Qaeda allied Shebab fighters, who control large parts of central and southern Somalia where they are battling African Union-backed government forces as well as Kenyan and Ethiopian troops, immediately condemned the deal. "The agreement is treason because it is part of a master plan of the international community to send Somalia back to colonisation," Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told reporters. "The mujahedeen fighters will not accept such conferences and their outcomes -- instead we fight against them and, with the help of Allah, we will win the war," he said. Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991, and the leadership in the capital Mogadishu is propped up by a 10,000-strong AU force from Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti. In addition, a 1,000-member upper house -- the National Constituent Assembly -- will be nominated by agreement signatories "assisted by traditional leaders and civil society" groups. The upper house too must include at least 30 percent women. "To ensure trust in the federal parliament, members must be patriotic, honest and of good standing in Somali society," the agreement reads, noting that anyone guilty of "serious crime or crimes against humanity" will be barred. "They must respect and uphold the rights of all Somalis and demonstrate tolerance towards all," says the deal, signed in the northern town of Garowe. Upper house members will be selected from a "cross-section of society" including representatives from the youth, businesses, diaspora, religious and traditional leaders and "existing and emerging regional administrations." The deal also recommends "a compensation package" to appease existing lawmakers not selected for the new parliament, many of whom command militia forces. The deal comes ahead of a London conference on Thursday aimed at mobilising international players to tackle Somalia s multiple political and humanitarian crises. Famine zones in Somalia declared by the UN last August were announced to have improved to emergency conditions earlier this month, but despite massive international aid efforts, conditions remain grim. A third of Somalia s population need emergency aid and mortality rates remain among the highest in the world, the UN warns.

Peace drive marred by mistrust: Kabul


Bold steps are needed to ensure that a council spearheading the reconciliation process can win the trust of insurgents,” said a presidential advisor on Sunday. Assadullah Wafa also expressed concern that Afghans, who have been subjected to one conflict after another, were losing hope that peace was possible from a process that so far has been shrouded in secrecy and conflicting views of likely success. The government has made some contacts with the Taliban, who have made a strong comeback after being toppled by a U.S. invasion in 2001, but there are no signs that full-fledged peace talks will happen anytime soon. U.S. diplomats have also been seeking to broaden exploratory talks that began clandestinely in Germany in late 2010 after the Taliban offered to open a representative office in the Gulf emirate of Qatar, prompting demands for inclusion from Kabul. "The talk about peace talks is just futile," said Wafa, an advisor to President Hamid Karzai and a former governor in some of Afghanistan s most volatile provinces. Karzai set up a 70-member High Peace Council two years ago, with Wafa as a member, to try and negotiate an end to the war, now dragging into its eleventh year. It is meant to represent all ethnic and political alliances in a bid to reach out to the Taliban leadership, as well as convince grassroots insurgent fighters to join the government. Wafa, however, questioned its effectiveness, and said its wide makeup actually made it difficult for the government to reach out to militant groups. "I have told President Karzai and he promised that there would be repair of the peace council. I am not afraid to speak out, but it doesn t much bear fruit. There must be a review," he told Reuters in an interview. Wafa, one of the Afghan government s most experienced bureaucrats, said a reorganisation of the council could help kick-start talks in Qatar, where the Taliban has set up an office to build contacts with the United States, or elsewhere. The stakes are high. Failure to lure the Taliban to the negotiating table could mean perpetual instability, or even another civil war, once NATO combat troops withdraw in 2014. Wafa s scepticism extends far beyond the High Peace Council.